My answer is no, computers don't have consciousness as Searle has argued. But if somehow someday computers become self-replicating and they develop the ability to lie to each other and to kill each other for sport, then I might be persuaded to change my mind.

if people are "conscious" so are plants, other animals, a lot of people think consciousness is being able to think, our thinking nature is just that, it's just different, not necessarily better or clearer or more advanced, it's just how we operate
consciousness, for a lot of people, is free will, and in that absurd idea, it's the ability to choose and see our decisions being carried out
but blah blah blah, i think i'm rambling

synapticattack wrote:if people are "conscious" so are plants, other animals, a lot of people think consciousness is being able to think, our thinking nature is just that, it's just different, not necessarily better or clearer or more advanced, it's just how we operate
consciousness, for a lot of people, is free will, and in that absurd idea, it's the ability to choose and see our decisions being carried out
but blah blah blah, i think i'm rambling

unsupported statements?
all statements are unsupported, all "fact" and "proof" are assumptions people have made, and people agree, in essence, they're nothing
every statement is based on theory and taboo

To get back on topic, I see no reason why we couldn't one day build a computer that could be conscious. We just don't have the technology yet to build something as complex as the human brain. One day we will, though. The human brain is just a machine, but it was made organically through evolution. With enough technology, man can make machines just as advanced.

Computers are made by humans, or by other computers than at some point were made by humans. We can imput feelings into our computers and they can seem as if they read our minds. Of course, it's because a human programmed them to do so. I think computers do not breath, therefore they have no soul. A conscious seems possible if they are programmed to behave like a human.

only a life form can have consciousness because consciousness influences will,and only life can use free will , an object does not have free will, in order to give a computer free will you have to give it life and then it kills the definition of a computer

definition of a computer

Also called processor. an electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations.

Wow. When AI is finally created, there's not going to be a holocaust of humans perpetrated by machines, a la Terminator, The Matrix, or Battlestar Galactica. There's going to be a holocaust of AIs perpetrated by human bigots...

I think it already is conscious because the materials it is made of are conscious (atoms ). The way I see it, everything in the universe knows that it exists and that other things exist around it. Think about this:

1. Human beings are conscious
2. What makes us conscious is our brain
3. What makes us conscious is our thoughts, which basically reside in the brain
4. Our thoughts are held in neurons
5. Neurons are living ( they are cells, cells are living biological units)
6. Neurons are made of atoms
7. If the neurons are made of atoms and the neurons are alive, then I believe that it is because all of the neuron's atoms are alive as well.

anarchyisbliss wrote:I think it already is conscious because the materials it is made of are conscious (atoms ). The way I see it, everything in the universe knows that it exists and that other things exist around it. Think about this:

1. Human beings are conscious
2. What makes us conscious is our brain
3. What makes us conscious is our thoughts, which basically reside in the brain
4. Our thoughts are held in neurons
5. Neurons are living ( they are cells, cells are living biological units)
6. Neurons are made of atoms
7. If the neurons are made of atoms and the neurons are alive, then I believe that it is because all of the neuron's atoms are alive as well.

That's basically my opinion

p.s. I'm a very instinctual, intuitive, new age thinker

Q1? What consistes of consciousness, as to say that a human is such, one would have to understand what consciousness is.

NOTE:
Most people walk around asleep, unaware. The Zen Master Buddha when asked what is he, if he is not an angel or a God, He said he was "Awake" There for one must be awakened to the true reality of the world befor one can say they are conscious.

Our thoughts are only HOUSED in the neron, the Thought is not the neron, nor is the wine the bottle..see. The Thought is actually a 'spark' or electricity in the brain, it travels along nerons from Cell to Cell..The Neron is not a cell, but a multi celled structure that connects the brain cells together, they are the pathways which thought travels down..
NOTE:
Under all the research done, there has never been found any 'person' or 'observer' in the brain. No one can find the person with in.
Nerons like braincells are made of atoms you are right, and an atom is basicly a necules that is serounded by a cloud of photons, photons that pop in and out of existand. the bubble they form is empty, as are they, the Neclus they rotate around also is basicly hollow and pops in and out of existence..so as you see the thought is not there, because Electricity is not made up of atoms, it runs through them, they like the nerons are nothing but the pathway for the thought, which in turn is nothing, is not even there, like the non existance observer in the mind.

Thoughtless wrote:Wow. When AI is finally created, there's not going to be a holocaust of humans perpetrated by machines, a la Terminator, The Matrix, or Battlestar Galactica. There's going to be a holocaust of AIs perpetrated by human bigots...

Not only will the AI be full of bigitry, but it will be full of "Religious over tones" as in what ever you religion or cultural background has molded you into is what you will mold the AI into..

SO I'm hoping for A Sexy Jap Robot to replace woman. they can all be lesbians for all I care..get their babys from sperm banks from drunks and crackheads who needed the money. A Robot with AI can be told and tought to do anything -WOW I just Solved Domestic Violance !!!

Q1? What consists of consciousness, as to say that a human is such, one would have to understand what consciousness is.

When I say consciousness I refer to the state we are currently in, even if that means we are not expressly conscious. I mean what we perceive to be conscious.

The Thought is actually a 'spark' or electricity in the brain, it travels along nerons from Cell to Cell..The Neron is not a cell, but a multi celled structure that connects the brain cells together, they are the pathways which thought travels down..

A neuron actually is a cell, it is a brain cell, it has one nucleus, ribosome, etc. Check a biology book if you don't believe me.

Our thoughts are only HOUSED in the neuron, the Thought is not the neuron, nor is the wine the bottle..see.

4. Our thoughts are held in neurons

This was my fourth statement, I already know that thoughts are held in the neuron, maybe you misread....

Q1? What consists of consciousness, as to say that a human is such, one would have to understand what consciousness is.

When I say consciousness I refer to the state we are currently in, even if that means we are not expressly conscious. I mean what we perceive to be conscious.

The Thought is actually a 'spark' or electricity in the brain, it travels along nerons from Cell to Cell..The Neron is not a cell, but a multi celled structure that connects the brain cells together, they are the pathways which thought travels down..

A neuron actually is a cell, it is a brain cell, it has one nucleus, ribosome, etc. Check a biology book if you don't believe me.

Our thoughts are only HOUSED in the neuron, the Thought is not the neuron, nor is the wine the bottle..see.

4. Our thoughts are held in neurons

This was my fourth statement, I already know that thoughts are held in the neuron, maybe you misread....

To be more clear on what I ment is thus:

Neurons (IPA: /njˈɒɹɒns/, also known as neurones and nerve cells) are electrically excitable cells in the nervous system that process and transmit information. Neurons are the core components of the brain, and spinal cord in vertebrates and ventral nerve cord in invertebrates, and peripheral nerves.

Neurons communicate via chemical and electrical synapses, in a process known as synaptic transmission. The fundamental process that triggers synaptic transmission is the action potential, a propagating electrical signal that is generated by exploiting the electrically excitable membrane of the neuron. This is also known as a wave of depolarization.

See The Neurons are not the brain cell but part of it. It is a Multi Celled strand of brain nerve that extends the length of the spinal cord

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron
Thought, In the form of an electric spark travels down these nurons to the brain cells...see I know what Iam talking about.. I did look it up first